Explaining the Mind: Physicalism Versus Dualism
1. Introduction In this paper I seek to show why physicalism and its revisions fail to explain the connection between the human mind and body. First, I will define physicalism and highlight some of its more successful revisions. I will then introduce concepts known as the Zombie and Mutant possibilities in order to use them in later sections. Next, I will expose the weaknesses of physicalism and its revisions by stating the reasons why they each fail to explain the mind and body relationship. Finally, I conclude that physicalism and its revisions alone are not successful in describing the connection between mind and body, and that, in the end, property dualism seems to do a better job of explaining…show more content… These zombies are problematic because they are not conscious like you and me; they have no “ghost within” (Blackburn 53). The Mutant Possibility states: “Mutants look like you and me, and behave like you and me. Their physical natures are indistinguishable. […] Unlike Zombies, Mutants are conscious. […] Events in the Mutant’s consciousness bear no relation to the events in your mind or mine” (Blackburn 53-54). Basically, a Mutant is able to feel something different from what we would normally feel after going through the same physical stimulus. The existence of these possibilities is itself what causes property dualism to be dubious, the two are so unverifiable that philosophers can neither side with them nor dispute them, thus leaving property dualism to seem to fail in the description of body and mind. I will reference the Zombie and Mutant possibilities in later discussions of